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The FAO Component of the Consolidated Appeals 2011

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Nov 2010

The overall Humanitarian Appeal for 2011 launched by United Nations agencies, non-governmental aid agencies and other international organizations is an appeal for financial support, but also an analysis of humanitarian needs in 14 different contexts of major crises: Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Haiti, Kenya, Niger, Somalia, the Sudan, the West Africa region, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

CAP 2011 – List of Countries

The vast majority of people affected by these crises live in rural areas and depend on fishing, farming, pastoralism and/or forestry to survive. As reflected in the Appeal, natural disasters and conflict devastate the lives and livelihoods of these rural communities. Responding to agricultural needs in emergencies is therefore at the heart of a coherent humanitarian response.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its partners have highlighted in the 2011 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) the needs of rural communities, of women, men, boys and girls, who depend on growing crops, herding and fishing as a way of life. Humanitarian investment in agriculture allows farming families to produce their own food and rebuild their lives and livelihoods as fast as possible.

Restoring a family’s means to produce is even more critical when one considers that the vast majority of CAP countries are in protracted crisis, and have been for ten years or more. When emergencies continue for such an extended period of time, interventions must build on local institutions and be forward-looking. Families must be able to plant in the coming seasons and care for their livestock.

The humanitarian community must therefore ensure that crisis-affected communities have access to the seeds, tools and other inputs that they need in order to be able to provide for their children. The large-scale disasters in Haiti and Pakistan in 2010 re-affirmed yet again the importance of working together as a community of actors within the cluster system and the importance of strengthening partnership with national nongovernmental organizations, and with local communities. FAO will continue to work with its partners to restore the food production capacity of the most vulnerable families. We rely on the commitment and support of the donor community to do so.